Windows 10 needed for future gaming?

[mijhamilt1]

I keep getting the annoying reminder to update to Windows 10.  Are most people running Windows 10 now?  Are there any drawbacks to this update for gaming?

 

thank you,

Mike

[zlolslavez]

Just now, mijhamilt1 said:

I keep getting the annoying reminder to update to Windows 10.  Are most people running Windows 10 now?  Are there any drawbacks to this update for gaming?

 

thank you,

Mike

Gaming wise, there's no big drawbacks. You may have some compatibility issues with old games, but you probably won't have that issue.

 

I want to say that DX12 will be beneficial for gaming, but with some things I'm hearing that may not be true.

If you are fine with being tracked then I would upgrade. (Or can disable most of the tracking, but not all of it)

[Trik'Stari]

I plan on switching to Linux for most of my computing, and then having either Windows 10 as a VM for gaming, or on a separate machine only for gaming, so I can avoid having M$ send everything I do to a 3rd party.

 

Most games will eventually require Windows 10. Which is what Microsoft wants, because people will switch to it, and then they will make money off of the OS tracking everything you do, and then selling that information to advertising companies. Much the same way that Google does. The only difference there is that you can choose to not use Google services, whereas MS is trying to force as many people as possible to become cash cows for them.

 

They claim you can turn it off, but can you really ever know the truth, on an OS that you don't actually control? They already tried pushing the "telemetry" crap to Windows 7 and 8 (you can remove the updates that force those one) via "security updates", which is fraud in my opinion.

 

Decide what you will, but be informed. W10 tracks you, and sends your activity to a third party.

[GoodBytes]

Telemetry data collecting is not spying.

[Praesi]

No. As long DX12 isnt a thing, i stay with Win7.

[typographie]

In my experience, the only downside of upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 has been to lose direct control over my system updates. That's kind of annoying, but at least it lets me defer the reboots. Everything else has been at least as good as—if not better than—Windows 7 in my experience/opinion.

 

Some day, when new games are no longer getting DirectX 11 backward-compatibility, Windows 10 or whatever equivalent available at that time will be required to play them. But going off of past history it could be many years before that happens. I'd recommend grabbing the Windows 10 update sometime while it's still free, but no, it's not "required" at this point.

[Delicieuxz]

Windows 10 is not faster than Windows 7 or 8, except if you're running a DX12 program. Windows 10 is unlikely to become required for future gaming, because it's basically the same platform as Windows 7 and 8, with a different visual presentation, reduced control over updates and visual settings, a reduced-functionality start menu, and invasive telemetry and data collection (unless you disable it - check my signature for a guide on how to do that). Some benchmarks on general performance across Windows 7 /8 / 10 have found Windows 10 to actually be slowest out of the 3 Windows OSes - but still, the difference between them is extremely marginal, to the point of being non-discernible.

 

I think that the majority of PC gamers are still using Windows 7. Steam's user data recently suggested that ~33% of Steam users were on Windows 10.

 

Windows 10's one advantage is DX12 - but Windows 7 and 8 are receiving Vulkan support, which accomplishes the same thing as DX12. All major 3D game engine developers have declared or hinted at support for both DX12 and Vulkan - though Valve has only announced support for Vulkan. Vulkan 1.0 specs have now been announced, along with the first 2 games to feature Vulkan support - DOTA 2, and he Talos Principle. I'm sure we're going to see many more Vulkan games this year, and my expectation is that Vulkan is going to surpass DX12 in developer uptake.

 

 

BTW, OP, you can disable those Windows 10 notifications in Windows 7 / 8, by following the instructions linked-to in my signature.

[leelaa14]

Eventually you will probably need windows 10 for a lot of games.

[Delicieuxz]

^ What Windows 10 functionality other than DX12 do you think could prevent a game that runs on Windows 10 from running on Windows 7 and 8?

 

I personally think Windows 10 is not likely to become a requirement for gaming, largely because it doesn't do anything unique in running games, and is based on the Vista / 7 / 8 Windows kernal. Windows Vista doesn't run a lot of things now not because it lacks the Windows functionality, but because 3rd-party hardware manufacturers are not making drivers for it (and Vista never got huge support from developers, though Windows 7 did). That isn't the case with Windows 7 and onwards, and I think that whatever has Windows 10 support is likely to run on Windows 7 and 8.

 

Other reasons why I think Windows 10 will not become a requirement for games include:

- Windows 7 is still the primary Windows OS used by gamers, according to Steam data - and Windows 10 uptake is going to progressively slow as time passes.

- DirectX 12 is not unique, and Vulkan accomplishes the same thing for all previous Windows systems going back to XP. And Vulkan has advantages over DX12.

[JYNxYoshii]

In my experience, there are plenty of drawbacks to Windows 10. There are numerous spying functions in the OS that are required to really use any of those "cool, new" features that they built in, DirectX 12 (correct me if I'm wrong) hasn't even been released yet, there are insane compatibility issues with all kinds of games and applications, some even requiring patches and fixes released by the modding community. Most say that Windows 10 is great, but in my experience, this is not at all the case. You might as well get it since Microshaft is forcing people to upgrade via cutting down support and compatibility or by stealthing in the upgrade through Windows Update, but there WILL be compatibility errors, odd glitches, and some fixes that you have to do on your own unless you are a light user.

[GoodBytes]

23 minutes ago, JYNxYoshii said:

In my experience, there are plenty of drawbacks to Windows 10. There are numerous spying functions in the OS that are required to really use any of those "cool, new" features that they built in, DirectX 12 (correct me if I'm wrong) hasn't even been released yet, there are insane compatibility issues with all kinds of games and applications, some even requiring patches and fixes released by the modding community. Most say that Windows 10 is great, but in my experience, this is not at all the case. You might as well get it since Microshaft is forcing people to upgrade via cutting down support and compatibility or by stealthing in the upgrade through Windows Update, but there WILL be compatibility errors, odd glitches, and some fixes that you have to do on your own unless you are a light user.

Telemetry data collecting is not spying. The rest falls the same as using a normal web search engine like Google, as it, well, uses Bing.

DirectX 12 is out since July 29, 2015 (with Windows 10), drivers are out for it. SDK and documentation is also out. Takes time to make a games.

 

All games and programs that works under Windows 8, should work under Windows 10.

 

If you have glitches or issues, makes sure you have the latest drivers installed for all your hardware, and not using generic drivers. If you had a virus or malware in the past despite removed, Anti-virus, and anti-malware software doesn't fix modified system files. This is where things can cause issues. It is also recommended to uninstall all security software before upgrading, once you upgrade, now you can install them back. Why? because they can cause issues thinking that a system attack is happening and tries to prevent it. Also, make sure your drivers are updated before upgrading. It has been found that they are drivers that didn't follow documentation properly, and causes problems during the upgrade. If you don't want to break your head, simply upgrade (to get it), wait for it to activate, and re-install right after Windows 10 clean (when you upgrade a hardware ID is generated, that is your product key if you will, and stored on MS servers. When you re-install, it will asked you for a product key, click on Skip, setup will resume, once done, it will regenerate the hardware ID, see as a match on MS server already and activate).

 

 

 

[Kryptyx]

You're better off just going Windows 10. Windows 7 has been on a steady decline on Steam, in fact, there is only a 1.5% difference between 7 and 10 (64bit). You're more likely to get better support in Windows 10 as time goes on. You can disable the data collecting if you're that paranoid about it but it's really not that bad. Overall I would consider Windows 10 a nice upgrade from 7, and let's not even talk about 8 or 8.1...

[That Norwegian Guy]

My current Win 8.1 gaming system will be reborn as an internet filter for my next system, and be kept as my productivity computer. Only Steam and game IPs are passed through. The joy of having a dual motherboard case.

[ACatWithThumbs]

On 2/16/2016 at 6:07 PM, Delicieuxz said:

^ What Windows 10 functionality other than DX12 do you think could prevent a game that runs on Windows 10 from running on Windows 7 and 8?

 

I personally think Windows 10 is not likely to become a requirement for gaming, largely because it doesn't do anything unique in running games, and is based on the Vista / 7 / 8 Windows kernal. Windows Vista doesn't run a lot of things now not because it lacks the Windows functionality, but because 3rd-party hardware manufacturers are not making drivers for it (and Vista never got huge support from developers, though Windows 7 did). That isn't the case with Windows 7 and onwards, and I think that whatever has Windows 10 support is likely to run on Windows 7 and 8.

 

Other reasons why I think Windows 10 will not become a requirement for games include:

- Windows 7 is still the primary Windows OS used by gamers, according to Steam data - and Windows 10 uptake is going to progressively slow as time passes.

- DirectX 12 is not unique, and Vulkan accomplishes the same thing for all previous Windows systems going back to XP. And Vulkan has advantages over DX12.

It's already happening Quantum Break is W10 only, Fable Legends as well, and many other studios are talking about it as well.
Many AAA games will go DX12 only so that they can go low level which means Windows 7 and 8 support will be impossible.

[Delicieuxz]

Quantum Break and Fable are IPs owned by Microsoft. Any Windows 10 restriction on them are artificial, to force people to use Windows 10. Microsoft is also limiting their IPs to being sold only on the Windows Store, which is another artificial limitation. Non-Microsoft developers have a goal of selling as many games as possible, rather than marketing Windows 10, and most PC game sales are through Steam, and therefore developers are not going to be restricting their games to the Windows Store, or DirectX 12.

 

A developer does not need to restrict their game to a certain DirectX to go low-level. And if a AAA game chooses one low-level API to go with, it will likely be Vulkan, which is for Windows 7 and 8, and Linux. Check my signature for AAA engines and devs supporting Vulkan.